University of Nevada Las Vegas

Larry Wade, who has been with the UNLV track & field program since 2013, was promoted to a full-time position in July 2016. Wade's primary focus is on the development of the sprinters and hurdlers.
 
Wade is one of a few coaches in the nation that has coached both a female sprinter and a male sprinter to sub-11 and sub-10 seconds in the 100 meters, respectively. He has also coached a male hurdler to sub-13 seconds in the 110m hurdles and a female hurdler to sub-13 seconds in the 100m hurdles. Due to his coaching experience he is requested to do clinics and camps all over the nation in connection with some of the largest track & field distributors in the world like Nike and MF Athletics.
 
While at UNLV, Wade made his mark very quickly. During the 2018 Indoor season Wade played an instrumental part in the program’s first Mountain West Indoor Championship. His efforts afforded him to be nominated at NCAA Regional Coach of the Year for the second year in a row. He coached student-athletes, such as Najia Hudspeth who won the MW title in the 400m with the fourth-best all-time performance in UNLV history. She also ran the final leg of the conference champion 4x400 meter relay, which ran the third-fastest time in UNLV history and the fourth fastest in MW history. Hudspeth teamed up with her sister Nylia, and teammates Avi'Tal Wilson-Perteete and Kaysha Love for the win. He also guided Love and Drea Austin who both ran two of the best 60m times in program history.
 
In the 2018 outdoor season, Wade continued to guide his student-athletes to success by qualifying multiple athletes to the NCAA Regional and National Championship meets. He had many athletes run personal-best times with none more apparent than Jasmyne Graham’s effort that won the 100m hurdles at the MW Championship. Graham also broke the UNLV outdoor school record in the event. Wade also coached Najia Hudspeth to a top-five time in the 400m. Hudspeth again anchored the 4x400 relay with teammates Love, Nylia Hudspeth and Wilson-Perteete that ran a top-five time in program History. That time also marks the fastest time ran in the event in over a decade. Individually, Love who also was on the relay ran a top-10 time in the 100m.
 
During the 2017 indoor season, Wade acquired 30 personal-best times with 12 student-athletes making UNLV’s all-time performance list. One of those was Taylor Pegram, who went on to win the MW’s indoor title in the 60m hurdles and broke the program’s record in the event with a time of 8.23. Additionally, Jaela Williams and Amari Norris also ran top-five times in the event. Destiny Smith-Barnett ran a program best in the 60m with a time of 7.20 that qualified her for the NCAA Indoor Championships. She was the first student-athlete to qualify for the national indoor meet in the sprints in over 10 years, and was awarded USTFCCCA Second Team All-America honors. Also, under Wades’ guidance, he coached senior Ayana Gales to the MW title in the long jump and a second-place finish in the triple jump. This made a total of seven All-MW Indoor Team honorees.
 
In the 2017 outdoor season, Wade continued to build on the momentum created during the indoor campaign. He had 30 personal-best times with seven UNLV records broken during the season. He also had 10 NCAA Regional qualifiers and five NCAA National Championship Qualifiers walking away with NCAA Second Team All-American Honors in the 4x100m relay. The relay also broke the UNLV school record, which stood for over 20 years with a time of 43.89. During the same year he directed junior Destiny Smith-Barnett to accomplish the very difficult feat of breaking the 11-second barrier with a time of 10.94. She also went on to receive USTFCCCA Second Team All-America recognition at the NCAA Championships in the event. Her time of 10.94 is the fastest time clocked in conference history. She also went on to break the 23-second barrier in the 200m with a time of 22.91. She was not the only one to accomplish this, as her teammate Najia Hudspeth also cleared the 23-second barrier with a time of 22.89. This is the first time in UNLV History that the program has had two members of the team run sub-23 in the event in the same year. In the 100 hurdles, Pegram continued her success by breaking the school’s outdoor record with a time of 13.11, which is the third fastest in MW history. Jaela Williams also ran a personal best in the event, which placed her in the top 10 in school history. To round out the season Ayana Gales jumped past the 20-foot barrier with a jump of 21-5 that placed her in the top five in UNLV history.
 
In 2016, Wade mentored Austin in both the 100m and 200m, and in turn, she was the team’s high-point scorer at the MW’s indoor and outdoor meets. Wade had five qualify for the NCAA Regionals. Three of those qualified in the 100 meters – a first in UNLV history.
 
In 2015, Wade coached Smith-Barnett to a 60m title at the MW Indoor Championships with a time that landed her in the top five in program history. Pegram also ran her way into the program’s top five in the 60m hurdles.
 
Prior to UNLV, Wade was named the 2013 California Junior College Head Coach of the Year after he guided the men’s and women’s programs to top-25 rankings. In his three years at Pasadena City College, he coached over 30 all-conference performances. One of his standout athletes was Omunique Browne, who went on to win California Junior College State titles in both the 100m and 200m. She also went on to win a bronze medal in the 200m at the Pan American Junior Championships. While at PCC, Wade broke school records in the women’s 100, 200, 4x100, 4x400, and 400 hurdles.
 
In 2009, Wade was the assistant sprints coach at San Diego State where he placed several student athletes in the program’s top 10. Junior Nicole Stone won the MW title in the 400m with a time of 52.86 that qualified her for the NCAA Regionals and NCAA Championships. He also coached standout student athlete Karoline Koehler who went on to win the conference in the long jump and triple jump. She also ran the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay becoming the high point scorer of the meet. She qualified for the NCAA Regionals and the NCAA Championships where she went on to place second in the long jump. She also took home USTFCCCA First Team All-America honors. That year the Aztecs were ranked in the top 25, which had not been accomplished in 26 years.
 
Wade began his coaching career in 2004, and mentored Dominique Arnold who broke the American record in the 110m hurdles. Two years later, he became the head coach of The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and led the team to eight gold medals at the 2006 Asian Games. 
 
In 2007, Wade coached Carmelita Jeter to a World Championship gold and bronze medal in the 4x100m relay and 100m, respectively. Jeter also went on to win the World Athletic Final in the 100 meters, ranking her in the top 10 in the world.
 
He also guided Candise Davis to an Indoor World Championship Silver Medal in the 60-meter hurdles, ranking her amongst the fastest women in the world.
 
Wade also worked with 2-time Olympian Uhunoma Osazuwa in the heptathlon. Uhunoma went on to win the Nigerian National Championship, and the All-African Games. She also broke her national record in 2015 and 2016.
 
He also directed Al-Sabee (long jump/KSA) and Nelly Tchayem (triple jump/France) to a pair of national titles. He also coached Rodney Martin (4x100m relay/USA), Shevon Stoddart (400m hurdles/Jamaica) and Fabien Fareez (200m/France) to spots on their 2008 Olympic teams.
 
Wade graduated from Texas A&M University in 1998, where he had an undefeated senior season and won two NCAA National Championships and earned 5 All-American Honors. He closed out his collegiate career with four Big 12 Conference titles and one Southwest Conference title. He was selected to his alma mater’s Hall of Fame in 2008.
 
After college, Wade was ranked as one of the top-five athletes in the world in the 110m hurdles from 1999-2004. In 2003, he won the gold medal at the Pan Am Games, bronze medal at the Goodwill Games and was a finalist at the World Championships. 
 
Wade is married to Yvonne Wade, UNLV's head track & field coach. The couple has two sons Jordan and Brandon.